Most of Europe’s hundreds of millions of tablet and smartphone owners have long struggled with repairs and parts-replacement. Depending on the supplier or maker, fixing broken devices or even just swapping in a new battery can often take so long or prove so prohibitively expensive as to make buying a replacement seem like the lesser of two evils. And for people fond of their slightly out-of-date device, the advent of newer models, often uncannily similar to the old but with different connections or jacks, can mean the mothballing of must-haves such as chargers. But that could change, if new rules, approved on June 16 by the European Commission, are applied across the EU. The Commission said there would be “obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available to repairers within 5-10 working days, and until 7 years after the product model is no longer sold on the EU market”.
Europeans could get better access to smartphone repair and parts – dpa international
